Monorail truck and hanging car



March 28, 1961 Filed Oct. 25, 1958 S. H. BINGHAM MONORAIL TRUCK ANDHANGING CAR 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

S/DA Ey f1 Ewe/m4 BY %LL DOAL 4 Tram/Er;

March 28, 1961 s. H. BINGHAM 2,976,818

MONORAIL TRUCK AND HANGING CAR Filed Oct. 23, 1958 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 72 y54 40 //0 (5-4 4 lfl /0fi v 1 ENTOR,

BY A d-gaizg nited States This invention relates to improvements inmonorail suspended vehicle systems.

The prime object of this invention is to provide a single tracksuspension type of monorail truck of such form that the vehiclesuspended therefrom will be less subject to pendular motion than priorstructures of this kind.

A more detailed object of the invention is to provide a monorail vehiclein which the hanging point or rolling axis thereof is substantiallybelow the supporting rail.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a combination in asystem of this kind in which the pendular lever arm be displaced betweenthe center of gravity of the hung coach and the swinging point isdrastically reduced, and likewise the pendular motion natural frequency,the pendular motion energy and the lateral coach displacement for agiven swaying angle is substantially reduced.

Other and more detailed objects of the invention will be apparent fromthe embodiment thereof selected for illustrative purposes.

In the accompanying drawings,

Figure 1 is a front elevational view of a truck and car combinationillustrating the principles of this invention;

Figure 2 is a top plan view of the structure of Fig. 1 with the caromitted;

Figure 3 is a side elevational view of the upper portion of the truck;

Figure 4 is a similar view of the lower portion of the truck;

Figure 5 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4; v

Figure 6 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line 6-6 of Fig. 5; and

Figure 7 is an enlarged elevational view of the details of attachment ofthe car to the truck with some parts broken away and some parts incross-section.

In the monorail suspended train system as proposed by early workers inthe art, steel wheels with guiding flanges were used for guiding as wellas supporting purposes. In that system the coaches hang freely on asingle row of supporting and guiding wheels. Thus, the center of lateralpendular motion, which can also be defined as the rolling axis, islocated on the top of the rail.

With the advent of the use of pneumatic-tired wheels, extra guidingwheels, generally of vertical axis, became desirable. This led to the'concept of supporting and guiding carriages or bogies, which are unableto bank with respect to the rail supporting structure, and on which thecoaches were therefore hung by hinged arms in order to permit pendularmotion of the coach.

However, in some proposed systems the hanging point of the coach on thecarriage frame has been located somewhat above the top of the supportingrail. This produces pendular conditions quite similar to the previoussteelwheeled monorails. The prime object of the design shown herein isto provide a structure for locating the hanging point, or rolling axis,substantially below the supporting rail level for the reasons pointedout above.

atent This concept is illustrated in the accompanying drawings. There isshown diagrammatically at 10 a suitable form of arched supporting columnat the end of which is the monorail 12. A generally rectangular, opensided carriage or bogie is indicated by the reference numeral 14 andincludes in plan, as shown in Fig. 2, a suitably shaped chassis 16 onwhich are mounted the various components of the truck. The chassisincludes a forwardly extending arm 18 and a rearwardly extending arm 20'which are substantially parallel to each other and to the rail 12 andlie in a plane just above the top of the rail. Rotatably mounted onthese arms in suitable large bearings are horizontal shafts carrying themain rubber-tired supporting wheels 22 and 24. The shaft of each ofthese wheels is connected through suitable power transmissiongearingillustrated generallyat 26 and 28, to the driving motors 30 and32 respectively. The full details of this construction have not beenprovided in order to keep the drawings simple, but those skilled in theart will readily appreciate that a wide range of power transmittingsystems and power sources are available. The point to be made is thatthe rubber-tired wheel 22 is driven by the motor 30 and the rubber-tiredwheel 24 is driven by the motor 32.

Extending forwardly and rearwardly on opposite sides of the carriageframe with respect to the corresponding arms 18 and 2d are the shortsupporting arms 34 and 38 for the guide wheels 36 and 40 which likewise,in practice, as illustrated will be rubber tired. To provide furtherlateral guiding for the truck the arms 18 and 20 are respectivelyprovided with brackets 46 and the corresponding bracket hidden in Fig.2, on which are journaled the additional rubber-tired guiding wheels 48and 50. It is clear that these guiding wheels are journaled on verticalaxes with respect to the trail and are all positioned in a plane so asto engage the sides of the rail 12 near its top.

As is clear from several figures, the main frame of the carriage isprovided with a vertical tubular support 52 extending downwardlyparallel to the outer side of the rail 12, i.e., the side of the railopposite the side to which columns 10 are attached, see Fig. 1, as thesupport for a lower frame member 54 for the carriage which lies underthe rail, see Fig. 6.

The lower carriage or frame member 54 is shown in general outline inplan in Fig. 5 and is provided with two pairs of lateral extensionslying on opposite sides of the center of the rail, as at 56, 58, 60 and62. Pivotally mounted at 78 and are two pairs of arms 64 and 66 and 68and 70, whose outer ends overlie the ends of the extensions 56, 58, 60and 62.' The ends of these extensions and said arms are shaped toprovide sockets in which any suitable form of resilient cushioning meansmay be mounted to be interposed therebetween, as is clear from Fig. 1.These can either be steel, rubber or the like. These resilientcushioning means are illustrated at 72, 74, 76 and 77. To supplement theresilient cushioning means it is desirable to provide pneumatic shockabsorbers which are diagrammatically illustrated at 82, 84, 86 and 88.These shock absorbers are pivotally connected at their respective endsto brackets formed on the arms and extensions, as clearly illustrated inseveral of the figures.

The lower carriage member 54 is also provided with lateral arms 9!), 94,98 and 102 on which are journaled, on vertical axes, rubber-tired wheels92, 96, 101 and 104, all of which wheels lie substantially in the sameplane so as to engage the side faces of the rail 12 near its lower side,as is clear from Fig. 1.

At this point to dispose of the supporting and guiding wheelarrangements, reference is made to the rubber-tired wheels 42 and 44which are journaled at the extreme ends of the arms 18 and 20, see Fig.2, so as to be aligned with the main supporting wheels 22 and 24 andwith the longitudinal axes of the top of the rail12. As shown in Fig. 3,the wheels 42 and 44 are normally out of contact with the top of therail when the pairs of wheels 22 and 24 are normally inflated. Shouldthey become deflated, the smaller wheels 42 and 44 move into contactwith the top of the rail and temporarily replace the load carryingfunction of the main supporting wheels.

Supported from the arms 64, 66, 68 and 70 are four suspension rods 106and 108, arranged in pairs on each side of the rail and bearing on thetops of these arms through any suitable form of resilient pads P such asshown in Figs. 4 and 5. The rods 106 and 108 pass freely through thearms with their respective supporting arms so as to allow freedom ofmovement. The rods 106 and 108 are fixedly connected at their lower endsto suitable fixtures 107 and 109 which can be bolted or otherwisesecured at appropriate points on the car or vehicle body 16,asillustrated in Figs. 1 and 7. These rods provide four points ofconnection to the car. Centrally of these rods is secured a fixture 112which would normally be on the roof of the vehicle, which extendsupwardly and has mounted on its upper end, as shown in Fig. 6 for freerotation a rubber-tired wheel 114 which fits snugly in the cavity 110 ofthe lower carriage part 54. The operation of the invention may best beunderstood by considering the action of the truck during a'bankingmovement of the vehicle, as during a turn, for example. Assuming thatthe vehicle 16 swings in a clockwise direction, as seen in Fig. 1, itwill be apparent that the load on rods 106 is increased while the loadon rods 108 is decreased. Since each of the rods is supported by one ofthe arms 64, 66,

68 and 70 and the arms are pivoted at 75 and 80, the

arms 68 and '70 associated with rods 1.08 move upwardly about theirrespective pivot points, while the arms 64 and 66 associated with rods106 move downwardly about their respectivepivot points. The resilientcushioning means 72, 74, 76 and 77 supporting the free ends of the armspermit these movements of the arms even though the rods 106, 108 arecontinually in tension. The wheel 114 and the cavity 110 of the lowercarriage part combine to form a universal type of pivot point tostabilize and guide the movements of the vehicle during theaforementioned banking action.

Upon consideration it will be seen that the point of guided pivoting forthe car or vehicle body is at the point of engagement of the wheel 1.14and the frame member 54. This is a gimbals pivot, or as referred to atthe beginning, the point of rolling axis for the car, and as will beapparent is below the rail 12 instead above it as in previousconstruction. Geometrically this pivot point is very much closer to thecenter of gravity of the car so that even with the same banking angle ascompared to ,the prior arrangements the actual motion of the carlaterally of the rail as viewed in Fig. 1 is very much smaller.

The pendular lever arm for the car, that is the distance between itsswinging point or rolling axis and the center of gravity is very muchshorter than in the prior art arrangements. This results in a reducedpendular motion, natural frequency, pendular motion energy and lateralcoach displacement for .a given swaying angle, a highly importantimprovement in this art.

From the above description it will be apparent to those skilled in theart that the subject matter of this invention is capable of embodimentin other specifically difierent physical forms, and I prefer, therefore,to have this invention inhibited as to scope by the appended claims,rather than have it limited to the particular embodiment selected forillustrative and descriptive purposes.

What is claimed is:

1. A monorail car and truck assembly comprising a generally rectangularopen sided carriage lying in a vertical plane, main supporting wheelsjournaled on said carriage at its upper end, a vehicle body, means forsuspending said body from and below said carriage, and means forming auniversal pivoting guide for said body with respect to said carriage atthe lower end of said carriage.

2. In the combination of claim 1, said supporting wheels beingpositioned to ride along the top of a monorail and in furthercombination with the structure 01 claim 1 at least one pair of guidewheels journaled on said carriage in a position to engage the sides ofthe monorail.

3. In the combination of claim 1, a plurality of pairs of guide wheelsjournaled on said carriage and adapted to engage the sides of the rail.

4. In the combination of claim 1, motor devices for driving saidsupporting wheels.

5. In the combination of claim 1, said support wheels lying in the samevertical plane and means for independently driving said wheels.

6. In the combination of claim 1, a pair of auxiliary supporting wheelsmounted at the upper end of said carriage so as to lie above the railand normally out of contact therewith, said supporting wheels beingrubber tired and said auxiliary wheels engaging the rail should saidtire become deflated.

7. In the combination of claim 1, a plurality of supporting armspivotally mounted at the lower end of said carriage, and shock absorbingmembers upon which said arms rest, said suspending means bearing on saidarms.

8. In the combination of claim 1, a plurality of Supporting armspivotally mounted atthe lower end of said carriage, and shock absorbingmembers upon which said arms rest, said suspending means bearing on saidarms and having freedom of movement in horizontal planes.

9. In the combination of claim 1, the lower end of said carriage havinga cylindrical contact surface and said pivoting means engaging saidsurface.

10. In the combination of claim 1, the lower end 01' said carriagehaving a cylindrical contact surface and said pivoting means including awheel journaled on said body and engaging said surface.

11. In the combination of claim 1, said suspending means comprising aplurality of rods bearing on said carriage and connected to said carbody.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS936,825 Smith Oct. 12, 1909 1,305,415 Stetfens June 3, 1919 1,740,416Combs Dec. 17, 1929 1,944,100 Medor Jan. 16, 1934 2,274,016 VerplanckFeb. 24, 1942 2,825,291 Chadenson Mar. 4, 1.953 2,853,956 Wennergren eta1. Sept. 30, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,139,330 France Feb. 11, 1957

